Back up power supply

Unplanned or unexpected interruptions to your business’s power supply can occur for many reasons. You can reduce the risk to your business during an outage by having a back up power supply available and ensuring your relevant insurance policies are up to date.

Back up power supply

Some of the backup power options available for businesses include:

Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

An Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) provides emergency power from a battery source. A UPS usually has a runtime of just a few hours, but this is sufficient time for you to properly shut down your protected equipment. A UPS is typically used to protect computers, data centres, telecommunication equipment or other electrical equipment where an unexpected power disruption could cause injuries, fatalities, serious business disruption or data loss.

Ranging in price from a few hundred dollars for a simple UPS for one computer, up to about $10,000 for a small networked UPS solution, a UPS can be a portable and affordable option to protect equipment from surges and outages. However, a UPS has limited battery backup power, and is really only suitable for IT hardware.

Small portable petrol/diesel generators

These generators range in price just a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. The user plugs their appliances into a power board and then directly into the generator. Though they are portable, they can also be noisy, emit fumes, and are impractical for supporting more than a few small appliances.

Large fixed petrol/diesel/gas generators

Ranging in price from $50,000 to several hundred thousand dollars, large generators can form part of the electrical infrastructure of your building. Large generators can support power to critical parts of the property for many hours or days, and offer a reasonably quick response for maintaining supply and operations. On the downside, they are expensive and not portable.

Generator safety & use

A generator can help get your business operating during power outages and emergencies but its safe use requires care and planning.

Our generator safety and use tips and careful reading and understanding of the generator's instructions - can help avoid dangerous situations and assist you in ensuring the safe operation of your generator.